Schedule and Results

Men's Cross Country at MIAC Championships

Knights Post Runner-Up Result at MIAC Championships

Marcus Huderle (center) sprints to the finish line in fifth place, while Jonah Barry (right) takes seventh at the MIAC Championships.

Photo: Nate Ryan

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Senior Marcus Huderle (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) turned in a time of 25:40.7 to finish fifth overall, leading the Carleton College men’s cross country team to a runner-up finish in the team competition at today’s MIAC Championships. Jonah Barry (So./Madison, Wis./Madison West) was next across for the Knights in seventh, completing the race in 25:42.6 to join Huderle in picking up All-MIAC distinction.

“We had a great meet,” said Carleton head coach Dave Ricks,” and it was a great weekend for the cross country teams from Northfield.”

St. Olaf College proved worthy of its national No. 3 rank, winning the MIAC title with 20 points as all five scorers posted top-10 finishes. The Knights claimed second with 81 points followed by University of St Thomas (104) and Saint John’s University (108).

This year’s result snapped a streak of four consecutive sixth-place finishes for the Knights, who have been running well since the start of the year and entered the weekend nationally ranked at No. 33. While Carleton had four underclassmen among its top seven finishers, the Oles had five upperclassmen among their top six finishers including individual champion Grant Wintheiser and runner-up Jake Brown.

Huderle made it four consecutive years as Carleton's top runner at the MIAC meet, but he saved his best for last with his race today. His great finishing kick allowed him to improve 10 spots from his placement at the conference championships a year ago.

Jacob Hoerger (Sr./Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention after posting a time of 26:12.0, good for 18th place and an improvement of a whopping 81 spots from his finish in 2012.

“Jacob has been solid all year,” Ricks said, “and he ran a confident race, staying patient in the early going. This set him up for a great finish.”

Guthrie Cunningham (Sr./Finland, Minn./Duluth East) missed sharing in the conference awards by 0.6 seconds as he was the 26th runner across the line at 26:33.2.

“Guthrie also came up with an outstanding race as we thought that he was ready for a big one,” said Ricks. “All of his MIAC races have been good, so he was ready for this course.”

Hart Hornor (So./Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) showed an improvement of 82 places over his rookie season and finished right behind Cunningham at 26:36.8 to complete the scoring for Carleton. “The race went out tremendously fast, and Hart went and ran with the front pack,” Ricks explained. “It was just too aggressive a pace for him. But without Hart's performances all season we would have never been in the position to finish this high today. He has been a relentless competitor all season.”

Carleton saw two other top-40 finishes in the 230-man field as Joe Haase (So./Madison, Wis./Madison West) placed 29th at 26:38.6 and Ben Withbroe (Fy./Takoma Park, Md./Albert Einstein) came across 40th with a time of 27:09.6.

The Knights will get a chance for redemption against the Oles when the Northfield rivals compete in the annual Karhu Shoe Race at St Olaf on Thursday, Nov. 7. The two programs will also compete at the NCAA Central Regional Championships on Saturday, Nov. 16. That race will also be held at St Olaf.